82SiouxGuy

They have only sold out a few games. That means for most games, even Minnesota games, there are seats left to sell. And afternoon games have lower attendance no matter who plays, even Minnesota, because a lot of local people don't want to take vacation time for a sporting event. Many of the people that take vacation are the ones that come from outside schools to attend the entire tournament. So it only makes sense that they will sell more tickets for a Minnesota game at night than during the day, and they will sell more tickets for a Minnesota game than any other team. That's why they want Minnesota playing in the evening rather than the afternoon. They would make money no matter when Minnesota plays, or even if Minnesota plays. But they make more money with Minnesota playing evenings.

That is the key, thanking the fans. It's only a matter of how often you want to do that. If you do it less often, like after a sweep, it probably means more on those occasions. But overall it should be a way for the teams to thank their fans.

The tournament probably isn't going any where else any time soon. I believe that they are/or recently have negotiated another 5 year contract with the Xcel Energy Center. The Ralph isn't big enough to hold the tournament. And the last time it moved to Milwaukee attendance was down. St. Paul is a very central location and makes too much sense financially for the WCHA to move it any place else right now. But if it moved to a different venue the "Minnesota Rule" would probably change to attract the largest attendance. So it would become the "Madison", "Milwaukee", "Denver" or "Grand Forks" rule. The Final 5 is the main money maker for the WCHA so they are going to maximize revenue.

Just trying to speak in the only language he seems to understand.

Probably just looked at a map and saw that it makes much more sense geographically than any other conference.

The coaches and administrators from ALL the WCHA schools approve the "Minnesota Rule" for 1 simple reason. It makes the most money possible for the WCHA. So the rule probably isn't going anywhere any time soon. The only time it makes a difference is the 3rd place game where it gives an advantage to the team that played on Friday afternoon. If they eliminate the 3rd place game it eliminates just about all advantage for the teams on the ice.

I kind of like the 2-2-1 format also. I love going down for the tournament, but the one downside is that I don't really have much time to do anything else that weekend. Having most of the day on Saturday to explore, visit friends or whatever would be a great break before the excitement and tension of a championship game. I attend the 3rd place game, but unless UND is playing it really doesn't hold a lot of interest.

I agree with you on Eids. He isn't as bad as some have stated. He definitely has room to improve. But a lot of people seem to only remember the best from past goalies, and not remember the struggles. Jpar and JPL both had some struggles and both improved as they got older. They were both at their best during their last seasons. Most of the best goalies in the WCHA are upperclassmen. That is true of most players in the league at all positions. The WCHA is an upperclassmen league and UND doesn't have a lot of upperclassmen. I also agree that Dell will probably get a start this week.

I'm sure that they are working to keep the best at the schools. But they are probably also trying to attract other good grad students to get the best results. Plus, some students don't want to get all their degrees from the same school. They go to one school for undergrad, a second for a masters and a third for a doctorate. The theory is that they will learn more by going to different schools and work with different teachers rather than taking course after course after course from the same teachers and same program.

Malone on Friday and Kristo on Saturday

The NCAA and the legal system may have a different opinion before the end of the year.

I think that they were hoping to attract more people than last year and maybe make some more money. (As far as numbers go, the Betty holds 3,500-4,000 when packed. The lower bowl at the Ralph holds about 6,000. So if they had more people for the game than last year they would have more than 4,000 in the lower bowl which means it would be more than 2/3 full instead of 1/2. And I would rather that they not turn a bunch of people away if we have a facility that holds them available.) They need a place to play games in the future where they will be able to put bigger audiences. The obvious choices are the Ralph or the Alerus Center. Since they have easier access to the Ralph that will probably be the choice for a while. It actually isn't a bad place to watch a basketball game and won't look bad if the lower bowl is filled. I think that they want to develop a tradition of playing games there, as well as letting the staff have some practice making the changeover. It takes about 4 hours to put the basketball floor in the Ralph and probably close to that to take it out. So starting to have at least 1 game per year in the Ralph is probably a good idea. The South Dakota game made more sense this season than any other game on the schedule.

He's a little busy right now, but who knows if he'll have a job at that point.

The plan was to make this doubleheader a big deal. Last year they did the same thing with the South Dakota BB games. They made it a "Pack the House" night and actually packed the Betty. So they hoped to bring in even more people this year. The lower bowl at the Ralph holds about 6,000, and my guess is that they thought they might have a chance to fill it. I doubt they had any plans to fill the entire arena. Then both teams started underachieving. Add in the potential blizzard and UND92,96 is right, attendance will probably be pretty weak. But games like this are planned well in advance. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. At least they made an attempt to market the basketball teams.

The other interesting point in Tran's blog is that the SBoHE has added the nickname issue to the agenda for tomorrow, but isn't expected to take any action. They want to talk with Faison about the issue and how it is affecting the goal of getting into the Summit. They don't seem to have a plan to take action at this time since the tribe members lawsuit has gone to the Supreme Court. One of Grant Shaft's quotes basically said that they really don't want to take action to remove the nickname and then have the Supreme Court tell them they have to reinstate it.

And they were ready to fire Scott in Duluth not that long ago. That goes to show how fickle sports fans can be. I believe that Hak will be at UND for awhile, but whenever he leaves it would seem that Sandelin, Eades, Steve Johnson, Brad Berry and maybe 1 or 2 others would be in a favored group to get the job. Or at least be strongly considered.

That describes the policy that UND has for stick salutes. But some other schools have different policies, including those that do a stick salute either every home game or every series no matter what the results. They do it as a thank you to the fans for the support and for attending the game(s).

And 3 straight at home after the 1st of the year. Heavy on home games during the last half of the season. It looks like Coach Blais will make his return to Grand Forks in January 2011. But which weekend?

Brad has the tentative schedule for next year (2010-2011) on his blog. As always, this is tentative and could change before it is final.

They would probably go with a smaller Big Ten hockey conference. Either 6 or 8 teams. They don't have to worry about stability, the schools aren't going anywhere and the chances of any Big Ten school dropping hockey are probably pretty small. Notre Dame would probably be team 6. There is a chance of 1 or 2 of the other actual Big Ten schools adding hockey, although that probably isn't a strong possibility right now. And they could fill out to 8, if they wanted to, with MAC schools. This is also the only hole that UND would have a hope of filling. But the conference could be small because they wouldn't have any trouble finding out of conference games to play. Most schools in the country would line up to get a chance to play one of the "big boys". If they wanted to they could probably load up on home games and end up playing 60% or more of their games at home (goes back to your money issue).

Agreed that they will do what is best for them financially. And the decisions will be made a floor or 2 above the hockey program offices, probably by the President's offices. There is a chance that UND could be an affiliate member of a Big Ten Hockey Conference, but I think that the chance is very small. The Big Ten schools will want to include schools that are Big Ten like, and UND does not fit. The rivalry does not matter in this case. But I do believe that both Minnesota and Wisconsin would want to continue games against UND. My best guess is that they would be 1 series per year against each and they would alternate home and away if that could be arranged.

It is all part of the evolution of college sports. It probably should have happened 30 years ago or so when UNI moved up. But the latest move by Division II to cut back on practice time and games in many sports is just another example of the reasons that UND and the other regional schools did not belong in Division II going forward.

It is hard to predict the future so no one can say for sure either way. But from all appearances it would take some major changes in the conference to make that possible. The west coast schools don't want to travel to the Central time zone, they want to limit the conference to the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Basically they want to limit travel. When the XDSUs were looking they got support from Montana and Montana State but not from schools like Portland and Sac State. And if the Montana schools move on to the WAC it would decrease the interest level of UND even if it might possibly force the Big Sky to look east to find some teams. That move might give Utah Valley and Southern Utah a chance to get into the Big Sky. So my answer is that there is a chance that UND could get into the Big Sky, but not a very good chance under the present conditions.

Taking the nickname issue totally out of the equation, is there any other option for a league that UND could join for a majority of sports? I have asked for other options on several occasions and no one has come up with another viable option. The Summit is the only league that is even considering adding teams in the middle part of the country that would consider a new Division I school. UND isn't going to get into the Big Ten, or even the WAC. The Summit is an entry level conference, just like the Big Sky. Those are the only conferences that UND would fit into geographically. The Big Sky is not adding teams and have not shown any interest in adding schools in the Central Time zone. So no matter how little you think of the Summit, it seems to be the only viable option as a conference home.

I think a lot of goalies in the WCHA either stagnate or regress a little bit during there sophomore year. They start hot as freshmen and then the other teams start to learn their tendencies. Next it is up to the goalies to make the adjustments and learn. The real test for goalies seems to be whether they make progress going into their junior year.